192 OTIDLDjE. 



Family OTIDID^E. 



Cervical vertebrae 16 or 17. Bill as a rule shorter than the head 

 or equal to it in length. Tail-feathers 16 to 20: primaries 11. 

 An aftershaft present ; no fifth secondary ; no bare tracts on the 

 neck. Tarsus and bare portion of tibia covered with small scales ; 

 the three toes short, stout, scutellated above ; soles very broad, 

 claws short and blunt. Males of many species with a gular pouch 

 opening beneath the tongue and serving to inflate the neck. 



Bustards are birds of stout build, with both neck and legs rather 

 ong, and both carried, when the bird is walking, nearly at right 

 angles to the body, giving a peculiar and characteristic appearance. 

 They chiefly inhabit open ground or grass. A small depression 

 in the ground, without lining or with very little, serves as a nest, 

 and the eggs are olive in colour and double-spotted. The young 

 birds when hatched are covered with down, and run almost 

 immediately after leaving the egg. 



This family inhabits Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Six 

 species are Indian, each referred by some naturalists to a distinct 

 genus, but all are here classed in four genera. Only one of the 

 species is found in Assam, none in Burma or the Malay countries. 



Key to the Genera. 



a. No ruff; sexes differing in size or breeding- 



plumage or both. 



'. No crest, at all events in females and in males 

 not breeding. 



a". Tarsus about as long as wing OTIS, p. 192. 



I". Tarsus more than r * as long as wing; head, 

 neck, and underparts black in breeding 



males SYPHEOTIS, p. 198. 



&'. A crest; size large EUPODOTIS, p. 194. 



b. A ruff on each side of neck ; sexes alike HOUBARA, p. 19(5. 



Genus OTIS. 



Bill shorter than head, and broader than high, stout ; legs of 

 moderate length. Wings ample, rounded, third quill usually 

 longest. No crest or ruff, though in the typical species the male 

 has long bristly feathers with few and short webs on each side of 

 the throat, and in another the plumes at the base of the neck are 

 elongate in the breeding-plumage of the male bird. 



A Palsearctic genus. The two species here included are often 

 referred to distinct genera, and show certainly some well-marked 

 differences. They have only been found within Indian limits in 

 the North-western Punjab. 



